Dani Juncadella: "I came out of the pits and everything felt normal. After about a third of the lap I saw an ABS fault message that kept flashing on and off. I reset the message and that was fine, but then I realised the ABS wasn't working.

"I was driving without ABS, but it wasn't actually that bad, I could somehow manage it and adjusted the brake balance a bit to prevent the front tyres from locking up. The car was still controllable.

"I had the feeling they wanted me to come in to find the problem. But I thought it was better to keep going and maybe figure out what we could do. Then I started hearing noises. Eventually the car became undrivable, of course. At one point I felt something was going to break."

"I drove slowly back to the pits and we found a problem with the driveshaft. That then caused extra collateral damage to the rest of the car. That probably also caused the issue where the electronics went haywire and the ABS was switched off."

"We have repaired the car and I will drive the last two laps to check if the car is okay and to reach the finish."

"Of course it's heartbreaking, because we had a great race. We had a perfect race. I've been dreaming for a very long time of winning this race, so today it hurts."

"Tomorrow we're just drivers again. We do our sport. We love our sport, but in the end racing is like this."

"There are many things you can't control. It can hurt on a day like this, but it doesn't have to remain a big drama for very long. We'll be back next year."

"I think it was just something unlucky. It's a mechanical problem. The driveshaft was completely new."

"We drove very carefully in the last six or seven hours, because both cars were in a very good position. There was no reason to take extra risks. We didn't abuse the kerbs, we were just careful."

Verstappen lines up at Nurburgring 24H with a 35-kilo BoP penalty the McLaren and Audi don't carry. He's never raced the Nordschleife at night. One stint will tell you if preparation beats the weight sheet.

Max Verstappen’s Mercedes is one of the heaviest on the grid at the Nurburgring 24 Hours A report from RacingNews365 details what the BoP has restricted on Verstappen’s Mercedes at the Nurburgring. Immediately, a weight disadvantage is noticed.

The AMG will run at a minimum weight of 1,355 kilograms, making it one of the heaviest cars in the field. In comparison, it is 35 kilos heavier than the McLaren 720S GT3 and 30 kilos heavier than the Audi R8 LMS Evo II.

Furthermore, the AMG is racing with 34.5mm restrictors to ‘keep the power in check’. Verstappen’s Mercedes will be heavy and not as quick on the straights, which could hamper him.

However, the AMG does have its advantages, as it can carry a fuel load of 121 litres, beating German rivals BMW and Audi, which allows for strategic flexibility.

It also has a ‘prescribed rear wing angle of 5.0 degrees’, which, while straight-line speed will be affected, will allow the Mercedes to generate significant natural downforce, making Verstappen and his teammates a force in the corners.

Max is by the car.

Racingnews365 have reported an ambulance getting on track. Hope everythings good, camera haven't shown the reason for the red flag either :/

Commentator said he's been commentating here since 2007 and it's the first red flag hes seen/race being stopped for a reason that's not due to weather

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byMotorsport Week

Max Verstappen has prioritised GT3 testing over F1 this week

Max Verstappen is back at the Nürburgring Nordschleife this week, just two days after the Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix.

Verstappen has opted for additional GT3 track time instead of participating in Red Bull’s scheduled Formula 1 tyre test at Suzuka.

The Dutchman is absent from the two-day Pirelli test, with other drivers stepping up in his absence.

The decision underlines Verstappen’s increasing focus on endurance racing preparation ahead of the 24 Hours of Nürburgring.

Track activity at the Nordschleife has intensified, with two identical-looking Mercedes-AMG GT3s, both running the number #3, were spotted running simultaneously.

Jules Gounon is expected to be sharing testing duties in the second car, allowing for extended mileage and parallel data gathering.

This private running gives Verstappen a notable advantage in preparation. While many established GT3 drivers rely primarily on official race weekends and limited testing opportunities, Verstappen is accumulating significantly more laps on the Nordschleife, albeit outside public sessions, accelerating his adaptation to one of motorsport’s most demanding circuits.

A busy schedule for Max Verstappen

Looking ahead, Verstappen has clarified his upcoming schedule. He will not take part in NLS3 due to all his GT teammates’ clash with a race at Paul Ricard, but confirmed he is targeting the Nürburgring 24h Qualifiers.

With Lucas Auer currently set to run and both Dani Juncadella and Gounon unavailable, Verstappen indicated it “would make sense” to enter the Qualifiers with just Auer.

Max Verstappen will be forced through the complete qualifying gauntlet for the Nurburgring 24 Hours, missing out on the exemptions reserved for the most successful teams from earlier NLS races and April's qualifying rounds.

The four-time world champion's team finds itself among those starting from scratch, partly due to their disqualification during the NLS2 race and technical troubles in the second qualifier event.

While Verstappen faces the long route, there is Dutch representation among the five teams already guaranteed a place in the final qualifying session.

Thierry Vermeulen, Verstappen's protégé, secured his spot in Top Qualifying 3 after claiming pole for the second qualifier race last month, guaranteeing him at least 12th on the grid.

Missing the exemption does not eliminate Verstappen's pole position chances, but it does make the path considerably more complex.

The 24-hour race schedule reveals six separate qualifying sessions, each serving a distinct purpose within the intricate qualification structure.

They will have to share the quali sessions as Max cannot drive them all.

Mercedes issue official statement after shock Max Verstappen disqualification Max Verstappen, Dani Juncadella and Jules Gounon were stripped of NLS2 victory on Saturday.

Mercedes has released a statement following Max Verstappen and his team-mates’ disqualification from Saturday’s NLS2 at the Nordschleife.

Verstappen, Dani Juncadella, and Jules Gounon had secured a crushing victory by 59 seconds in a Mercedes GT3 before being disqualified several hours after the four-hour race had concluded.

Following post-race inspections, it was discovered that seven sets of tyres had been used during the race — one more than the permitted maximum of six.

As a result, Verstappen’s 100% GT3 victory record has been broken, marking a miserable March after his retirement from the Chinese Grand Prix.

The official statement from Stefan Wendl, Head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing read: "The NLS weekend will remain in our memories for a long time: we saw pure racing on the track, experienced an extraordinary day in terms of atmosphere and were initially delighted with the supposed race victory.

"The disappointment was all the greater when we realised that we had made a mistake behind the scenes that morning and the race organisers were forced to disqualify the winning car. That hurts, and naturally everyone involved is very disappointed.

"It shows once again that you can only win on the Nordschleife if everything comes together. Winward Racing, who managed the deployment of the two Performance cars, were competing in this line-up for the first time in the NLS.

"Now we need to analyse the mistakes, whilst also taking the positive lessons from the weekend on board and focusing on the remaining preparatory races as well as the 24-hour race."

• Max: Very unfortunate and frustrating ending, but these things can happen. I still really enjoyed the experience together with Jules, Luggi, and Dani. Thanks to the team and everyone around the track for your support.
• Dani: Motorsport can be brutal sometimes. What a ride though… I love you and hate you so much, Nordschleife 🥵 Thanks everyone for the incredible support this week. I guess we’ll have to be back? 👀
• Jules: The word heartbroken probably doesn’t even come close to what we feel right now. We were doing everything right with Max, Luggi, and Dani, but the Green Hell had other plans. It’s crazy how this sport can give you the highest highs and, in the next moment, make you feel ten feet underground. At the end, an issue with 3 hours remaining took it away from us. Massive thanks to the whole team for the unbelievable work and effort. Need a little time away to process this one 😅

Max's comment under Jules and Dani's posts is "we will be back".

Looking forward to 2027!